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~:---l_ ;:.:blished for the
=-=-- :::lai objective is to THE
·",a:~::-" findingsin, and
- ~ ::--_c ~:tld.
VOLUME I, NO.3 INTERNATIONAL
SPRING 1987 TRADE
:::'_:_::-~ not only from
.:;.ernational trade
JOURNAL
ARTICLES
'-.;e :.:ik,,,;ing:
U.S.-Canadian Trade Liberalization
and Adjustment Mechanisms: A Survey
Alan M. Rugman and Andrew Anderson. . . 219
Protectionism and The Case for Flexible
~=je:-::s
Exchange Rates: A Reexamination
Williard E. Witte. . . . . . 251
Raw Materials Price and Technology
_' :a':::5 given, are those Uncertainty in a Small Open Economy
:~:-:Ce-:[the position of
Jon D. Harford and Keehwan Park. 277
_::;; T r ade: nor tha t of
.~-.-,; . Tariffs and Quotas in the Presence
of Foreign Monopoly
F. R. Casas and E. Gelbard .. . . . . . . . . . . . 289
NOTES
The Choice of Appropriate Technology
in a General Equilibrium Model
:=:.v cv the Institute ot
,~~:-s .: the University Bernard Yeung .... . ... 305
::L Y_ce President for
.s.on of Business BOOK REVIEWS
;-_ :-.. . :e :.Jr Inrernational
Glenda Korporaal, Yankee Dollars:
: cc 50: a:c: are Khosrow
Australian lnuestrnent in America
c: ~.ae::ben, Professor
::-:::::-_.i.[ion, all from Reviewed by Paul Garner . . . . . . 315
I .
TARIFFS AND QUOTAS
IN THE PRESENCE OF
FOREIGN MONOPOLY
F. R. Casas
E. Gelbard
,:ewers to assist the Tl:: paper contrasts t be effects of tariffs and quantit atit:e restrictions
:ed for publication or :<: .c: presence of a foreign monopolistic exporter. It is shown ib«: a tariff
wo;.;.: in auce a Lerner-type effect in the t arifj-im-posing country whereas a
the Journal in its ~:.~ z: t: ill necesarily have such an effect. More generally, a quota will
:. ~~.celi the terms of trade more tbun the equivalent tariff, altbough the
<end a copy of their
.<:«: 1£'1 monopolist may not capture the entire scarcity rent produced by the
.J:'~:'; These results have significant implications when t be relative costs of
:';~lc:H trade barriers are evaluated.
Toronto .
•; ",' .''C.I; THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE JOURNAL. Volu-me I, No, 3. SprrnR 1987 289
290 THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE JOURNAL
I
This issue was first raised by Meade (1951, pages 173-185). See also Kindleberger (1958).
>E JOURNAL CaJ.s.zn4 Gelbard: Tariffs and Quotas . . . 291
Ide and under Ibbederian partial equilibrium model which has been traditionally employ
are normally ed to compare the effects of tariffs and quotas.
commodity in
.nproving that n TARIFFS AND THE TERMS OF TRADE WITH A
e the familiar FOREIGN MONOPOLY
lative price of
wniIe a tariff normally raises the domestic relative price of the
]port demand,
iimporuble commodity subject to the duty, Metzler (1949) showed that this
ms of trade in
RY..:r.lt ffi.ay be reversed if the foreign demand for imports is price inelastic.
importance of
),lore recently, Casas and Choi (985) demonstrated that a Metzler-type
e allocational,
proidox may result from the existence of a decreasing-cost import
a:;rnpeting industry - whether the latter is competitive or monopolistic/
theory is the
On the other hand, while a tariff normally reduces the foreign price of
-veral authors,
ttr importable good, a post-tariff increase in that price is described as a
:hat this result
Lerner paradox. A necessary condition for such a paradox to occur is that the
monopolistic
domestic demand for imports be inelastic or, equivalently, that the elasticity
oort sector, or ,
.JJl rhe domestic supply of exports be negative. However, we can establish
c:.~: J. Lerner paradox may also be obtained under a different set of
:ase where the Clrl7;.lIDSUnCe s.
where inter
Consider the effects of a specific tariff imposed by a country which
er from price
cb:2ins irs imports from a monopolistic foreign supplier. The foreign firm
, consider the
stl~ its homogeneous maput in both the foreign and domestic markets, and
e effect which
a:;rn.modity arbitrage rules out price discrimination across markets. J In
e literature. In
~,m= 1. I page 292) we first illustrate the case where the monopolist
fecrs of tariffs
ionopoly, The
Ie competitive -Enger 19-1) had earlier shown that even when a tariff increases the domestic price of the
~",.ible commodity, the equilibrium Output of a monopolized domestic industry may fall.
udies, and the
'_'\5 shown by Chacholiades (1978, pages 172-175) the sum of the elasticities of import
erween tariffs, ~ ~ and export supply is -1. The necessary and sufficient condition is that the elasticity of
~hmesric supply of exports be smaller than the negative of the marginal propensity to
.rence ranking
aro;;:rme rhe exportable good.
5 the familiar
in "doer words, in spite of being the sole producer in the foreign market, the monopolist
~ poceruial resale between (he rwo markers.
::!leberger (1958).
Figure I
Tariff with a Constant Cost Foreign Monopoly
w,-.;" -,.Ii Gelbard: Tarijjs and QuotM ... 293
':'pe:-2res under conditions of coos cane cases. In the left panel, 0d shows the
'"' JDoes[ic country's excess or import demand, while Of is the foreign
~
a Jem2nd for rhe same commodity. In rhe righe panel, 0 is the weal demand
~~':- :ie foreign monopolise's produce, MR is rhe corresponding marginal
b
revenue, and MC is the (cons cane) marginal cost.
~
3:':::e5:ic prices from P co Pi and P'd, respeceively.' Thus while a necessary
:D::":i:ion for the conventional Lerner paradox is that ehe domestic export
-0 :;:..2FF::: have a negative price elasticity, we h.ive established rhar the
a
s:::.?:'i:ion of a eariff may worsen the eariff-imposing country's terms of
:rl::e ::1 the presence of a decreasing cost monopolistic foreign exporter.
~
:: ,- .'3[h noring that while stability of equilibrium requires Me to be flatter than MR at
= c .:c:e:5eCtion, the foreign price will decline if the Me curve is steeper than the demand
:...:.::
292
It is importar
foreign industry is
IC8eaing the exist,
indiTidual firms b
dro:easein the rota
die foreign price it
....w be higher t
>. - Ai
00.. ITa
0 ex]
c
0
~
c
.~
...0
(1)
-...
(1)
::l
~
U
....til
0
.~ ~
~ ";;;
t'l
...u
(1)
(1)
c
t'l
..c::
....
"~
.....
.....
";::
t'l
f-<
294
"
~Q
reflecting the existence of pecuniary or technical economies external to the
iadividual firms but internal to the industry. While the tariff-induced
tk:rease in the total demand for the foreign industry's product would lower
the foceign price in the short run, the long-run equilibrium foreign price
r:::: would be higher than under free trade as contraction of the industry
;::s
iIII:reases costs for all firms. We may therefore state the following result:
Bhagwati (1965) was the first to show that the introduction of market
~
imperfections in the form of monopoly in the import-competing sector or
~
BDOOg importers (that is, quota holders) would invalidate the notion that a
a Driff and an alternative quota set at the post-tariff level of imports would be
equivalent. Using a definition of equivalence based on the domestic price
and allocative effects of the two policies, Yadav (1968) and Shibata (1968)
argued that tariffs and quotas would be equivalent if monopoly power
resides either in the hands of the importer or the foreign exporter.
However, it was left for Bhagwati (1968,1983) to conclusively demonstrate
that if equivalence is defined as equality between an explicit tariff and the
implicit tariff produced by the quota, any departure from perfect competi
tion anywhere in the trade process would yield non-equivalence."
294
1
i
296 THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE JOURNAL
6
Kreinin (1970) has argued that non-equivalence prevails even under perfectly competitive
conditions if dynamic considerations --such as the effects of changes in demand or supply
conditions in the presence of tariffs and quotas-- are included. Rodriguez (1974) also showed
that tariffs and quotas would produce different final equilibria if retaliation is taken into
account. Finally, Fishelson and Flatters (1975) compared an optimal quota in the presence of
uncertainty with a tariff yielding the same expected level of imports and concluded that they
would not generally have the same welfare effects.
7
Rieber (1986) has extended these results by showing that with a monopolistic import-
competing sector, an import quota set at or above the free trade level of imports may
paradoxically increase the domestic price of the importable commodity.
.. TRADE JOURNAL L.;_',;,- ';Iid Gelbard: Tariffs and Quotas, , , 297
:::e import-competing £2::5 :0 some form of collusive agreement among the foreign suppliers that
·,t world market for its C;D oe conveniently approximated by the monopoly assumption.'
.: ::-tar whereas a tariff
Consider the case of a foreign monopolist that sells its product in the
t::1enrs, a quota does so :.::t:gn market and competes with a perfectly competitive industry in the
,:'::, .trage, In the case of
-:c:ntstic economy, Potential resale across markets prevents the foreign
. F"::,,,,'er in the world
=x~,orrer from adopting price discriminating polices,9 In Figure III (page
:: :~iough a tariff would =':JcS we illustrate the effects of an import quota equal to the post-tariff level
:t:cising its monopoly z: .rrpor ts (OM in Figure I, page 292). D" represents the quota-inclusive
2 cuora would expand :::31 demand for the foreign firm's product, and MR" is the corresponding
:o,,:-:~al demand for the
=..1: i,:inal revenue curve. The quota increases the foreign price from P to Pf
-, cases, a tariff yields a
3:1': reduces the foreign output from Q to Q". While marginal cost was
~: than the equivalent 1.55'.:.:ned to be constant in Figure III, it is readily shown that these results
[).::': regardless of the slope of the Me curve. 10 Thus, an import quota always
.e.cs non-equivalence ;:.:02uces a Lerner-type effect against the quota-imposing country, and we
2 case is particularly =.<; therefore state the following result:
:: .ariffs and voluntary
:=t widespread among
0,,0 (1984) discusses a case in which a foreign monopolist is part of an oligopoly in the
25 part of their trade ;]:::C~5:ic economy. Unlike a tariff, a quota or a VER would then facilitate tacit collusive
2 ',' be several foreign ...: ,c:,'CDS between the foreign monopolist and the domestic firms. Harris (1985) argues that a
-,-'OR :T<al induce price leadership behavior by domestic firms. In both models, the decline in
i~ctd by the VER often
~:r,"C:cler welfare under a quota is greater than under a tariff because of the quota (or
',-=:R -i nduced lessening of competition. A similar result was also obtained by Iroh and Ono
::;; ~ "sing a Stackelberg duopoly model in which a domestic monopolist confronts a foreign
_~,,,er perfectly competitive ;:~·~e discriminating monopolist.
"c,;e, in demand or supply
Tr.is assumption may also be justified by the presence of ami-dumping regulations in the
C;:"EZ (1974) also showed
J- ~e-sr!c country.
~ :Euliarion is taken into
C":',", ccora in the presence of "The reader is reminded that Figure III cannot be used to analyze the effects of a quota with
,C:' ",1C concluded that they Me curves since the import quota itself would have
.:..:'-'~rEnr to be adjusted to the
:::-re,ronding post-tariff equilibrium level.
Proposition 2 - In the
aVER
terms
price 0
the for
it ever
It is worth observi
domestic country's ten
IIImpetitive, a quota will
willie a quota may incre:
. ..ill occur if and on
as the tariff woul
c-,
"0
0..
0
c
...... 0
......
...... ::E
<l.l
.... c
;j
Q.Q
.::P
<l.l
....
i.L: 0
il-<
.c...
.~
...'"0
;j
QI _1H!11S(:riminating sUPl
ill illustrates the'
me foreign expor
Pf in both n
prevents the fi
will be cleared at
scarcity rent ec
under Bhagwat
ill, page 298) unc
(PJ-Pf in Figure I.
298 'lbe residual rent r:
~
u
::8 r - -M' 2 - In the presence of a foreign monopoly, an import quota or
a VER will always worsen the quota-imposing country's
terms of trade. Where a tariff would increase the foreign
price of the importable good because of decreasing costs in
the foreign industry, the equivalent quota would increase
it even more.
------
IIowever, our analysis has assumed that the foreign monopolist is a
Mliscriminating supplier in both the domestic and foreign markets, and
m illustrates the effects of relaxing Shibata's restrictive assumption.
the foreign exporter maximizes profits in the presence of a quota by
Pi'in both markets - under the assumption that commodity
prevents the firm from price discriminating. The domestic import
will becleared at P d' (equal to the equilibrium domestic price under
equivalent explicit tariff), implying that the monopolist will not capture
Q . . the scarcity rent equivalent to the tariff revenue. Non-equivalence
.....ins under Bhagwati's definition since the implicit tariff (P d' -P{ in
Figure III, page 298) under the quota is smaller than the equivalent explicit
ariff (Pd-Pi in Figure I, page 292), but the implicit tariff is not necessarily
298
JftO. The residual rent not captured by the foreign firm could be received by
300 THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE JOURNAL
This result runs counter to the conventional wisdom which holds that
the scarcity rent "may accrue to [the foreign] exporters, when the latter can
collude but [domestic] importers cannot."ll The reason that this may not
happen is that if potential resale across markets and/or anti-dumping
regulations in the domestic market prevent the foreign monopolist from
price discriminating, an increase in price above the profit maximizing level
Pf would raise the revenue from the sale of the quota in the domestic
market but not enough to compensate for the reduction in sales revenues in
the foreign market. 12 Clearly, whether the exporter captures the entire rent
or not depends, ceteris paribus, on the foreign elasticity of demand. It is also
evident that if the foreign exporter is able to effectively separate the two
markets and thus to price discriminate, the entire rent would always be
received by that firm.
\l
See Chacholiades (1978), page 483.
12
The net decline in total revenue would also have to be larger than rhe.decrease in total
cost due to the reduction in the firm's output. "
.
~.4.L TRADE JOURNAL Tariffs and Quotas . . . 301
domestic government if IDOOOpoly power would be exercised by the foreign explJrtcr under J II
e fashion. We have thus scenarios. If VER's were to facilitate or promote collusive
IIIIJPOIistic behavior among foreign exporters, they would have to be
as inferior to quotas since the proportion of the scarcity rent
oaring foreign monopoly, by those exporters would be higher (and the implicit tariff would
n import quota or aVER, IIIIIft:rI under a VER than with a quota. The conclusion which emerges,
.d generate as revenue for , is rhar tariffs should be regarded as superior to quotas and to
nor necessarily be entirely
er. 's in rhat order.
n.. fan that Western nations have been increasingly resorting to
wisdom which holds that quotas in recent years is attributable to a number of factors. First,
orrers, when the latter can oations have had their policy options in the area of tariffs curtailed by
reason that this may not ~mems reached under the successive rounds of GATT negotiations.
ets and/or anti-dumping same time, quantitative restrictions an: favored by all parr icipat ing
foreign monopolist from because they facilitate collusive agreements, and these firms are likely
te profit maximizing level considerable political pressure. These restrictions are also less
Je quota in the domestic for consumers than tariffs, adding to their attractiveness for
uction in sales revenues in ems anxious to avoid a backlash from consumer groups. Finally,
er captures the entire rent possibility of naive behavior by the authorities cannot be disregarded.
sticity of demand. It is also
Similarly, the growing recourse to voluntary export restraints may be
.ecrively separate the two
ted ro the attempt to circumvent the rising unpopularity of more
ire rent would always be - nal non-tariff barriers such as explicit quotas. Some governments
also wish to avoid the problems and COStS of administering quotas or
ClXTUption often associated with the allocation of import licenses.
REFERENCES
11. Kreinin, M.
Kyklos, Volt
1. Bhagwati, J.N., "On the Equivalence of Tariffs and Quotas," III
12. Lerner, A.P.,
Baldwin, R.E., et. al., (eds.) Trade, Growth and the Balance of
Payments, Chicago: Rand McNally, 1965. Economica. '
3. , "On the Equivalence of Tariffs and Quotas," in The I-t Metzler, L., "
Theory of Commercial Policy, Volume I, Cambridge: MIT Press, National Ince
1983. pages 1-29.
4. Casas, F.R., and Choi, E.K., "The Metzler Paradox and the Non 15. Ono, Y., "Prof
Equivalence of Tariffs and Quotas: Further Results," Journal of Economics, V(
Economic Studies, Volume XII, 1985, pages 53-57.
16. Rieber, W.;., .
5. Chacholiades, M., International Trade Theory and Policy, New York: Extension," lo.
McGraw-Hill, 1978.
17. Rodriguez, C.A
6. Finger, J.M., "Protection and Domestic Output," Journal of Inter Retaliation," J
national Economics, Volume I, 1971, pages 345-354. pages 295-298
7. Fishelson, G., and Flatters, F., "The (Non) Equivalence of Optimal 18. Shibata, H., ",
Tariffs and Quotas Under Uncertainty," Journal of International American ECOI
Economics, Volume V, 1975, pages 385-393.
19. Yadav, GJ., "j
8. Harris, R., "Why Voluntary Export Restraints Are Voluntary," Canadian Jour?
Canadian Journal of Economics, Volume CVIII, 1985, pages 799-809.
9. Itoh, M., and Ono, Y., "Tariffs, Quotas and Market Structures,"
Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume XCVII, 1982,pages 295-305.
ariffs and Quotas," in The Metzler, 1., "Tariffs, The Terms of Trade and the Distribution of
L Cambridge: MIT Press, National Income," Journal of Political Economy, Volume 57,1949,
pages 1-29.
ler Paradox and the Non _ 000, Y, "Profitability of Export Restraint," Journal of International
irrher Results," Journal of Economics, Volume 16, 1984, pages 335-343.
~es 53-57.
Rieber, W.]., 'The Non-Equivalence of Tariffs and Quotas: An
wry and Policy, New York: Extension," Journal of Economic Studies, Volume XIII, 1986.
on) Equivalence of Optimal Shibata, H., "A Note on the Equivalence of Tariffs and Quotas,"
:' Journal of International American Economic Reoieu., Volume 58,1968, pages 137-142 .
•93.
Yadav, G.]., "A Note on the Equivalence of Tariffs and Quotas,"
~estraints Are Voluntary," Canadian Journal of Economics, Volume I, 1968, pages 105-110.
CVIII, 1985, pages 799-809.